Terminator to carry torch. Unfortunately it will be in front of a green screen in a studio in Burnaby.

Why This Is Vancouver's Last Super Spectacle. Because We Built This City on Boosterism, but we've done run out of room.

Protesters target torch. "Anti-Olympic activists are making no secret of where and when they plan to protest against the Olympic flame as torch-bearers wend their way through Metro Vancouver. (a) But the activists are not saying exactly what they're planning to do. (b) The ironically named 2010 Welcoming Committee announced (c)... their group had been infiltrated by undercover police and said the infiltrators might try to cause trouble so that uniformed police could crack down. A similar ruse was said to have been tried at a G7 summit meeting in Montebello, Que., in 2007 when police allegedly (d) disguised themselves as demonstrators but were discovered".

a) Why should they
b) That's because it depends entirely on how the guys with batons and shields behave
c) How is that ironic exactly?
d) Allegedly, on video mind you, but allegedly

There are the Vancouver Olympics, and there are the Vancouver Anti-Olympics. In this divided city we have two torches and two sets of mascots running around town. With days to go before the opening of the 2010 Olympic Games, yesterday (Sunday, Feb. 7th 2010) Vancouver hosted the third annual Vancouver Poverty Olympics.

Between 600 and 700 people took in the Poverty Olympics held in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside at the Japanese Hall on Alexander Street to watch "events" titled Wrestling for Community, the Housing Hurdles and the Broken Promise Slalom. Present at the Games were The Poverty Olympics' 12-foot-tall, 200-pound torch (which just spent a week making its way around Greater Vancouver) and Poverty Olympic mascots (a rat, a cockroach and a bedbug).

In this edition: Fan Death's two new band members and future EP, You Say Party! We Say Die! add Canadian tour dates and release "Glory" video, and Bend Sinister temporarily moving to Toronto. Plus: "Cannibal" video by Fan Death and live cover video of "These Eyes" by Bend Sinister.<

The House of Switzerland opened on Friday, exactly one week before the Opening Ceremonies. Located in Bridges Restaurant on Granville Island, the two-storey yellow structure will be adorned with the red and white colours of Switzerland until February 28th (sorry Paralympians).

Vancouver's contribution to all things twee pop just got a little better. Enter the Thee Ahs. Twee as fuck. Last night at the Zoo Zhop the comic-loving pop piece performed welcoming pop chords -- a fitting welcome for the early Vancouver spring.

So, I don't know about you guys, but over the years I've found some real gems in Vancouver alleyways, free sections of apartments, and thrift store "free bins."

A few days ago I found this book placed carefully on a chair in the alleyway outside my apartment, miraculously sheltered from the rain and moist. It's a famous illustrated edition of the classic Frankenstein from 1977 with graphic novel-style drawings from Berni Wrightson. Even though its cover has been defaced, I'd still count it as one of my favourite finds.

Flipping through it, I was pretty amazed at the quality of the hand-drawn illustrations, done in pen and ink and meticulously detailed. The book now sits on my desk, inspiring me to start drawing and being creative again -- by using real art materials with my hands instead of my usual computer-based graphic design projects.

Thinking back, my friends and I have found many quality pieces in Vancouver's streets -- and the true advantage to these "found" items is how quirky and amazingly random they are. We've found orange Tiki lamps decorated with gaudy bamboo sticks, endless picture frames of all sizes and materials (sometimes with photos still inside), odd keychain charms and antique tables, limited-edition records, odd family pocket photographs, and when one is lucky, a real $50 bill (I felt like a king that night).